The road to Viñales starts with a bang!

Today our tour officially started. Orledis picked us up at our casa at 9. We packed our bags into the bus and were driven the short distance to Plaza De La Catedral where I had been before for the hop on hop off tour. It was nice to hear about some of the history. We walked along the streets while Orledis described history and events that happened in the different areas. 

It's supposed to be good luck to step on his foot, grab his finger and his beard! He was a man who walked the area around the square handing out flowers to ladies and coins to men.

The post office box, still in service!

They made the specific street with wood instead of stone to quiet the noise of traffic, this is an redone version.

Yep, those are eggs

Famous place that Hemmingway went to.

A famous Flamenco dancer!

Perfumerie

Famous Perfumerie

After about 2.5 hours, we stopped for lunch. I didn't know if I could stomach it, with the heat and all, but once it came, it was delicious. We made our way back to our starting spot and to the bus. We loaded up and headed towards our next destination, Viñales. Oledis talked a little on the way but soon enough, most of us were dozing off, when BAM, our tire blew. Our driver, Nelson, quickly pulled our bus to the side, investigated the tires, and before I knew it, he was stripping off his tie and dress shirt and pulling on a pair of coveralls. In less than an hour, the tire was changed and we were back on our way! Thankfully they left the bus running and the AC blasting the whole time! I dozed, off and on, until we reached a rest stop where we took some time to use the bathroom and stretch our legs and then we were off. 

In about 30 minutes we were pulling up to a hotel with an amazing view point of the valley. I took this picture of this awesome statue when all of a sudden, the statue moved, I gasped and jumped and everyone laughed....even me.

I totally thought it was real! 

Ottawa!!!

We jumped back on the bus and our next stop was our Casa where 5 of us were staying. We had enough time to check in and leave our bags before Orledis picked us up and took us on a tour of the 2 street town! He said he'd meet us at the main square at 9:15 for live music and dancing. Eight of us decided to stick together and picked a place for dinner, meeting an hour later. I ran to the ATM and then met up with the other girls at the wifi hot spot. I chose not to log in when I heard how slow it was. Three of us decided to go get a table and order a round of drinks until the rest of them joined us. When we got to the restaurant, the waiter actually laughed at me when I asked for a table for 8. Rebecca, asked about 2 tables of 4 and he said it would be 20 minutes. It wasn't and he insisted that our friends had to come or we'd lose the second table. Just as he was about to give it away, they came walking up, thank goodness. We enjoyed a delicious Piña Colada and I had roast chicken. Afterwards we headed to the square to meet Orledis. We headed into the club and listened to great music, watched some great dancing and other performances.

The sunscreen, bug spray, sweat and bugs were starting to get to me so I decided to head back to the room and grab a shower. It was a pretty good first day, flat tire and all!